Confronting Inequities in STI Prevention, Diagnostics and Care

Track 5: Community Engagement & Policy

Carmen Logie

Chairperson, Canada

Dr. Carmen Logie is an Associate Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto and the Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment & Health, Research Scientist at the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity, and Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital. Dr Logie’s research programme advances understanding of, and develops interventions to address, intersectional stigma and other social-ecological factors associated with HIV and STI prevention and care. Her current community-based research focuses on HIV prevention and care cascades in Canada, Uganda, and Jamaica with people living with HIV, refugee and displaced youth, LGBTQ communities, sex workers, Indigenous youth, and persons at the intersection of these identities.

Harrell Chesson

USA

Dr. Chesson is a health economist who earned his BA from the University of North Carolina in 1990 and his PhD in economics from Duke University in 1996. As a health economist at CDC, his research has focused on the impact and cost-effectiveness of STD prevention programs and policies, health equity, and burden of disease.

Affiliation: Health Economist, Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United Sates.

Sarah Bernays

Australia

Dr Sarah Bernays is a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney and Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Sarah’s qualitative research programme focuses on developing and evaluating community-led interventions that advance the acceptability, uptake and effectiveness of youth sexual health services in Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa. She has a particular focus on the intersection between young people’s mental health and their engagement in prevention and treatment for HIV and others STIs.

Meg Doherty

Geneva/WHO

Dr Doherty is the Director of the Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes (HHS) at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva.

Under her leadership as Director, HHS Department, the department will maintain and expand global efforts to eliminate HIV, hepatitis and STIs by 2030 with a strong emphasis on service integration and strengthening primary health care within the framework of UHC, while focusing on vulnerable populations and countries with the highest burden.

Appointed on the 1 February 2020, Dr Doherty was previously the Coordinator of Treatment and Care in the Department of HIV at WHO Headquarters since 2012. She has more than 25 years of experience working in HIV and infectious diseases, including leading WHO’s normative and programmatic work focusing on expanding HIV treatment to all and reducing inequalities in access to the most effective anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV. She brings many years of diverse country experience to this role, having spent 10 years living and working in low- and middle-income countries, advising ministries of health and international partners on implementing comprehensive HIV and infectious disease programmes.

Prior to joining WHO, Dr Doherty was faculty member of the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she was responsible for the treatment and care of people living with HIV, hepatitis and other infectious diseases.

Marc Steben

Canada

Dr Marc Steben is a family doctor at the Family Medicine Group la Cité du parc Lafontaine. He is president elect of the 2023 International Society for STD research. He is a member of the Executive and responsible for the Education Committee of the International Papillomavirus society. He is chair of the Canadian HPV Prevention Network. He is the elected president of the Canadian branch of the International Union Against STIs. He is a member of the executive of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association. He is associate editor of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada. He is professor at the School of Public Health at Université de Montréal. He is co-chairman of HPV Global Action.

Dr Marc Steben est médecin de famille pratique au Groupe de Médecine Familiale Cité du parc Lafontaine. Il est président élu pour 2023 de la Société international de recherche pour les ITS. Il est membre de l’Exécutif et responsable du Comité de l’éducation de l’International Papillomavirus society. Il est président du Réseau Canadien de Prévention pour le VPH. Il est le président élu et membre fondateur de l’Union internationale contre les ITS section Canada. Il est membre de l’exécutif de l’American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association. Il est éditeur associé Journal d’obstétrique et gynécologie du Canada. Il est professeur à l’École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal. Il est co-président de VPH Action Globale.